BACK TALK for January 27, 1999: Lloyd Takes a “Spin”; Fox Seeks “Atlantis”

January 27, 1999
Lloyd Takes a “Spin”; Fox Seeks “Atlantis”

Christopher Lloyd to Film an Episode of "Spin City"

That's right — you heard it here first!!! According to a very reliable source close to Christopher Lloyd, "Spin CIty" will be the site for the first reteaming of Fox & Lloyd in nine years! According to my source, Lloyd will be filming this historic episode sometime in February. No details were provided, and repeated inquiries to Lottery Hill (Fox's production company) for additional information have so far gone unanswered. I'm assuming this will be an episode that will air during 'May Sweeps', similar to last season when Michael J. Fox brought out fellow "Family Ties" alums Meredith Baxter and his wife Tracy Pollan for stints during the 1998 'February Sweeps'. This could also be an opportune time for Universal Studios Home Video to run some commercial spots for the re-release of "Back to the Future" on VHS, as well as the film being available for the first time on DVD, as they supposedly are going to be released in early May.

My source also went on to provide information concerning other projects Lloyd had been attached to that didn't materialize. "Easter", "Winter", and "Confessions of a Teenage Antichrist" will no longer be starring Lloyd. And apparently "The Russian Militia" was a bogus listing in the IMDb, as I was told that Lloyd was never attached to this project.

Lloyd does have several projects hitting theaters and television screens sometime this year. By now, you've probably seen the hilarious trailer to "My Favorite Martian", hitting theaters on February 12. Lloyd should have a modest hit on his hands with this Disney live-action comedy. Riding on the coattails of Martian will be "Baby Geniuses", which you may have seen a trailer to this past Christmas. Sony has shuffled this one arround so many times, that the release date seems to never be the same two weeks in a row. Presently, it is slated for a March 12 release. The 3-hour television movie "Alice in Wonderland" airs on NBC on February 28, in which Lloyd portrays the White Knight. Another television film, "It Came From the Sky", is supposed to debut on the Romance Classics network sometime in April. But probably the most anticipated film this year is the Andy Kaufman biopic feature "Man on the Moon" with Jim Carrey, in which Lloyd cameos by portraying himself on the set of "Taxi" as "Reverend Jim". "Man on the Moon" hits theaters sometime this Fall.

Fox Announces Next Two Film Projects

After Sunday's Golden Globes, Award-Winner Michael J. Fox was quoted as stating that he's providing voices for two upcoming movies. One we already knew about is "Stuart Little", in which Fox provides the voice for the title character — a computer generated mouse. Stuart Little is scheduled for release in theaters on December 17, and stars Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki and the voices of Jennifer Tilly, Bruno Kirby, Gene Wilder, Chazz Palminteri and Steve Zahn.

The other project is a new Disney animated film that is presently untitled, about the discovery of the famed lost city of Atlantis. Presently, the film is simply known as "Atlantis", and I would expect that it will remain as such, although that is not official and can likely change. Disney's recent trend is using one-word titles for their Summer animated film releases these days (i.e. "Pocahontas", "Hercules", "Mulan", etc...). Anyway, he's voicing a major character for the movie, which is in the early stages of development right now. There's not very much information available on it yet, and I suspect that it won't be out until the Summer of 2002. Typically, Disney only releases one animated feature per year, and this year's big release is "Tarzan". Next year will be the long awaited "Fantasia 2000", which would put "Atlantis" a year after that at the very earliest. There's another animated Disney film already in production called "Kingdom of the Sun", which I suspect will be Disney's Summer 2001 release. So don't expect to see "Atlantis" released until June 2002 — according to BASELINE, the film was announced on July 23, 1997, and it seems to take Disney about five years to make an animated feature from concept to release.

— Stephen Clark